“We definitely showed that we can compete with these teams, especially Chinese Taipei,” the 27-year-old told fiba.com.

Reid pointed to his team’s lack of preparation as justification for their less than spectacular showing in Lebanon.

“We were just in a tough situation. We’re definitely the least prepared out of any team here. Our league finished on the 28th of July so we’ve had a week of practice. Most of these teams have been preparing for two months. You can see at times we’re really disjointed because we have guys from five or six teams trying to figuring it out on the fly.”

Hong Kong will now dust themselves off in preparation for the Fiba World Cup Asia Qualifiers that begin in November. They have been handed a difficult group and will go up against China, New Zealand and Korea in their quest to reach the World Cup.

Reid, who was born and raised in Hong Kong to a Canadian father, said there is much to be optimistic about in Hong Kong basketball.

“I can see us being competitive. I think we can give a couple of those teams a game and moving forward with these players and this coaching staff, I think there is a lot to be positive about.

“That game against Chinese Taipei opened a lot of people’s eyes,” he said. “If I look at it through more of a positive lens, we’re…